How ‘Serpentina’ Gave BANKS the Freedom to Find Her Sound & Herself

BANKS has evolved.

Not just in her music, but in her personal life. It's been three years since her last LP, and something feels... different. She calls it a shedding of the skin, which slides right into the theme of her brand new album, Serpentina.

While the singer-songwriter has always been presented as an edgy, brooding artist – perhaps even a bit pigeonholed into that idea – she says she now feels free to explore any and every part of who she is, no longer feeling the pressure to "live up to any sort of image or expectation. You can be bright, even if you're known as dark. You can be loud if you're known as quiet. You can be quiet if you're known as loud. It's just whatever you're feeling. And we all feel everything. That's why I think this album is so human."

Before the record's release, PRIDE had a chat with the LGBTQ+ ally about moving on, letting go, the freedom of expression that comes with going independent and owning her masters, and we completely dive into the world of Serpentina.

PRIDE: First of all, the album cover is stunning. What inspired it?

BANKS: Well, I wanted to do something really natural. I just feel like I'm in the most open, free place I've ever been. I wanted to show myself in a raw form. But I also wanted to represent how I feel. The album is called Serpentina, which is about shedding one's skin and being present and owning where you are and letting go of the past. I think that the way that the strings wrap around me, it's almost snaky in that it never ends. It's just one long string connected. That's how life is, I guess. You just have to accept what your shapes are and where you're at and whatever shapes the string made. If you cut one part of it, the rest of it would fall apart. I just thought that would be a really cool way to kind of, in a natural way, show where I'm at.

Is that theme going to make its way into any music videos coming up that you can tease? The string, the serpent. 

I think it's just an energy, to be honest. Snakes are such beautiful creatures. I'm not remotely opposed to having those in a visual and I've thought about it and it just hasn't happened quite yet. The cover artwork for "The Devil" had a snake in it. It was a real snake. Her name was Charlotte.

Yeah, I think it's an energy. Serpentina feels like this divine feminine goddess energy. It's super empowering. It feels a little bit dangerous in a certain way, but in a fun, exciting, inspired way. Whether there's a snake or not in a video, I think that energy shows through.

I can feel it throughout the album. Immediately, my favorite songs are 1. "Fuck Love." I cannot wait to hear that in a club.

Oh my God.

But then "Dead End" is amazing. And "I Still Love You."

I'm so glad you chose those three. I don't have a favorite because they all are... but those three are really special. "I Still Love You" is a song I wrote when I was 20 or something. I just never felt... It felt so personal. I didn't really feel like it belonged on an album. I think probably just because of where I'm at in my life, where I feel like the best artist I've ever been, the most free and the most connected to myself. I think it's a confusing thing when you start sharing yourself and other people have their certain projections of you. That always kind of got to my head a little bit. I'm sure it gets to everyone's head who does this. But I feel like my world's more in tune.

It's one world. That's really what it comes down to. It's one world. I feel that more than ever right now. Naturally I just, all of a sudden was like, hey, I'm ready to put "I Still Love You" out." I also think this album, I've taken more control than I've ever have before. I mean, I own my music. I'm in a new record deal and I co-produced the whole thing. And it's just been such a blessing to make this album. It just felt really the time for "I Still Love You" to come out and for it to close this album. Especially how it ends with a little laugh. I just love that because it's not so serious.

Is it the original audio or did you re-record it for this album?

I re-recorded it. I actually never had a proper recording of it. I just know it. I just, I could play that on the piano with my eyes closed, backwards. I've just had it for so long and I didn't change the piano parts to it. I didn't even change one bit. It's how I wrote it years ago. But the vocals I've just, I mean, I've grown as a vocalist as well and my styles developed, so I added a few riffs here and there, but it's essentially the same song.

I love it so much because it reminds me of the first album a lot. It reminds me of "Bedroom Wall" and "Change", which are two of my favorite songs. I used to listen to "Bedroom Wall" in my dorm room and cry.

Oh my God. It's kind of desperately... That song is so desperately sexy. It's like... Do I have to spell it out for you?

Combinations of sad and horny are probably my favorite.

That's pretty much what a lot of my music is. It's sad and horny.

That makes sense. That's why I love it so much.

I think that's also why this album is so exciting for me. Because there's a lot of brightness and warmth to it. "Fuck Love" is not sad at all. It's so empowering. You don't need to give me a throne. Because I got one. And don't give me a rose because I'll throw it away. I don't need your jacket. I'm good.

Your music has always been really good at that balancing that line. I think about "Fuck With Myself", which is so cool. It's dark. It's double-sided. I fuck with myself in my life and I fuck things up. But also like, I'm the shit. I'm cool.

I fuck with myself. I'm good. Yeah. Totally, I love that. And then "Dead End," that song melodically kills me. Especially that outro where it gets a little swaggy at the end. I wanted to repeat that eight times.

Maybe the tour version?

Yeah, exactly. We'll add some special things for the live show.

You're independent now and co-produced every song on this record. How do you think it's changed not just your sound, but your vibe and attitude?

Oh my God. It has been so good for me. Just my heart. I just feel more confident in my own intuition than I ever have before. When you want something or when you have a certain opinion and then certain people... I don't know, disagree or think that they have the right to disagree or tell you... I mean this... Making this album and just owning my own music, making all the decisions of who I work with and how I work, setting up the studio in my house, learning Ableton and all of that. I think the reason why I said earlier, I'm the best artist I've ever been, is just because of that. It's just because I'm trusting my own artist dream more than I ever have.

That's really been a good thing for me, even just outside of music, just in my life. I feel I'm in a better place than I've been, and a healthier place. There are no boundaries because there are no rules. You don't have to live up to any sort of image or expectation. You can be bright, even if you're known as dark. You can be loud if you're known as quiet. You can be quiet if you're known as loud. It's just whatever you're feeling. And we all feel everything. That's why I think this album is so human because it really shows all of those different layers.

Maybe that's why "I Still Love You" felt right to put out now... As an artist, putting out your work into the world can be the most scary and vulnerable feeling.

Oh, I know.

I'm always amazed when people like you can share this deeply personal thing. But that's what makes it so great. That's what makes it so human. 

When you're in a certain mindset, it becomes less scary. I know that song is special. It's got magic in it. And if anyone disagrees, they're wrong. It's when you feel that way about something, it can't really touch you. But again, that's what it's about. If you're in a place where you're doubting yourself, you're like a feather in the wind. Wherever, whatever the wind does or blows, that's the direction you go. Whereas when you're just more solid, you are just solid.

What does owning your masters mean to you? Was it something specific that you wanted in the move from your label or did it just kind of happen?

That's why I specifically went with the label because that was going to be part of the deal. And I want that. I just want to own my own music. I want to own my own art and my own image and make the decisions and not feel like if someone tells me I shouldn't make a video because that's not what "moves the needle" as people in the business say. I just say, fuck it, I want to make one. I don't care. Just having control over the money or where the money goes, that's so dope.

It's a long-term benefit, as well. Also just mentally, it just feels good. Even beyond all of the tangible things that happen business-wise, when you own your own money. I think just mentally, it just feels empowering.

Taylor Swift really pushed the idea of owning your masters into the main pop culture conversation. The history of women kind of getting controlled or manipulated... I think about Jojo, how all of her music got taken away from her. It's crazy. 

Totally. I can decide what I do with it. It is my own music. 

It's wild that that idea still feels so radical.

But it's not. That's why these more non-traditional deals that are happening now are so good for artists. It's so empowering. 

Back to Serpentina, what can you tease from this era? What can we expect?

You can expect a mixture of creature, animalistic, sexy, vulnerable, strong goddess energy.

Serpentina is out now. Check out BANKS' tour dates below: 

Bisexual singer-songwriter Lauren Jauregui will join her on tour as well as Cautious Clay as a special guest in New York City and Philadelphia.

05/25 - The Observatory North Park - San Diego, CA
05/27 - The Observatory - Santa Ana, CA
05/28 - BottleRock - Napa Valley, CA
07/11 – Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater – Austin, TX
07/13 – South Side Ballroom – Dallas, TX
07/14 – 713 Music Hall – Houston, TX
07/16 – Jannus Live – Tampa, FL
07/17 – House of Blues Orlando – Orlando, FL
07/19 – Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA
07/20 – Marathon Music Works – Nashville, TN
07/22 – The Fillmore Detroit – Detroit, MI
07/23 – HISTORY – Toronto, ON
07/25 – House of Blues Boston – Boston, MA
07/27 – Radio City Music Hall – New York, NY**
07/28 – The Met Philadelphia – Philadelphia, PA**
07/28 – 07/31 – Lollapalooza Festival – Chicago, IL
08/02 – Fillmore Auditorium – Denver, CO
08/03 – The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
08/05 – Queen Elizabeth Theatre – Vancouver, BC
08/07 – Moore Theatre – Seattle, WA
08/08 – Roseland Theater – Portland, OR
08/10 – The Masonic – San Francisco, CA
08/11 – Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles, CA
08/13 – Brooklyn Bowl at the Linq Promenade – Las Vegas, NV
08/15 – The Van Buren – Phoenix, AZ